Converting a 1966 Fairlane to Disc Brakes

We bought this way-cool 1966 Fairlane in May 2015 after finding it on a Craigslist ad for sale in Columbus, Ohio. It had the exact, street/strip vibe that was just so right we simply could not pass it up.

We’ve have always had a certain affinity for these two-year-only cars: their gorgeous two-door hardtop rooflines were only produced in 1966 and 1967. Casually looking for a clean cruiser with maybe a 289 two-barrel and a rust-free body, we were instantly smitten with this particular car with its old-man Antique Bronze paint (the original color), Ford corporate dog-dish hubcaps, and 15-inch steel wheels.

The part we love about the car is though it looks sort of stodgy and maybe a bit boring, it’s anything but when you start it up, point it straight, and hit it. Its hot, 306 small-block has cast-iron Dart heads; a big, fat, Anderson Ford Motorsport hydraulic roller with 248 degrees of duration at 0.050; a full MSD ignition system (distributor, Blaster coil, and digital 6AL); an old-school Edelbrock Torker 289 single-plane intake; and Crites headers. Behind is a reverse-manual valvebody C4 and a Detroit Locker–equipped 9-inch with a 3.70 gear. Originally a straight-six car, it now probably has four times the power that it did with the crummy, old 200.

And while that part of the equation was well-addressed as we took delivery of this little gem, the car’s ability to slow down after lifting off the gas during the occasional late-night test-and-tune passes we’ve made was severely lacking. The solution? Toss the crappy front drum brakes in the dumpster and install a top-quality set of front disc brakes from one of the aftermarket’s most well-known automotive brake manufacturers—Baer Brake Systems.

There is much to like about Baer, but there are a couple of things in particular that we find most endearing. For one, its brake-system packages lack not a single thing when it comes to absolute quality and functionality. This is the third Baer system install we’ve been involved with in the last 23 years, the first being a four-wheel disc setup fitted to a 1990 Fox-body Mustang 5.0 and another a four-wheel disc system that went on a 1969 Mustang. For our Fairlane, we went with just a front-disc system, because we felt rear discs were not necessary with the straight-line nature of this car.

Our long-time buddy Rory Fontana, of Fontana Motorsports in Simi Valley, California, installed the Baer kit while we shot the photos of him doing so. Fontana Motorsports works on all kinds of vintage and late-model American iron. With all that out of the way, let’s take look at how Baer can make any classic Ford car actually stop when you want it to.

This is our Fairlane, and with its high-strung 306 small-block, it goes quite well. The issue was getting the car stopped, and we have that solved with the following installation of a Baer brake system.This is the sexy part of a Baer front-disc brake setup. The calipers, rotors, mounting brackets, and hubs are all top-quality goodies that you absolutely cannot go wrong with should you decide to fit a system to your Ford, GM, or Mopar street machine that’s set up to go straight (as our car is) or turn corners. This particular setup is known as an SS4+ front 11-inch system. Baer has long made its own calipers, such as these four-piston units that are billet aluminum and available in more than two-dozen colors. The 11-inch rotors will fit behind most 15-inch wheels, though Baer always recommends checking fitment on your wheels with a template available on the company’s website at Baer.com.All mounting hardware and brake lines are also included with all Baer systems.We also installed a Baer Remaster, which is a fully machined, billet-aluminum master cylinder. The short, compact body makes fitment possible in most GM and Ford cars, and its firewall mount fits all GMs and Fords. It’s engineered for optimum balance between pressure and volume for top-level braking performance with reasonable pedal effort. Designed, developed, machined, and assembled in Baer’s Phoenix, Arizona, facility, the Remaster is available in at least eight other colors in addition to the black we chose here.Now that you’ve see the parts, here’s how to install them. First, unbolt the stock drum-brake line from the car with a line wrench.After removing the drum, remove the four bolts that hold the drum backing plate to the spindle.Once the old drums brakes are off the car, smooth out the surface of the spindle with a sanding wheel to ensure a flat fitment of the Baer caliper-mounting bracket.Install the base bracket to the spindle with the supplied hardware. The left bracket carries an engraved part number that begins with 661, while the right side (shown) begins with 662. Install with the part number facing outward. Torque the bolts to 45 ft-lbs.

Install the wheel studs on to the billet-aluminum hub and the hub on to the spindle. The new bearings are pre-packed with Red Line synthetic grease. You don’t need to add more grease; just apply a small amount of grease to the hub-seal surface and install the hub. Tighten the nut to 10 ft.-lb. and spin the hub to set the bearings. Loosen and retighten the nut while spinning the hub several times. Then loosen the nut again, tighten to remove all play, tighten about one-sixteenth of turn or more to align the nut, and allow the cotter pin to fit. Complete the hub installation by installing the cotter pin and aluminum dust cap.

Installing the rotor is the next step. When doing so, be sure to follow the proper direction of rotation indicated by a decal on the rotor hat area that tells you which way the slotted rotor is supposed to turn. The reverse-slotted rotors need to turn in the correct direction in order to have proper airflow for cooling.Shown here already installed is the intermediate bracket (left side is PN 6610126) that bolts to the base bracket. Install the bracket using the supplied hardware. Snug these bolts just part way for now, as they may need to be removed to center the caliper.Next, install the caliper, as has been done here, and shim it for proper placement. The caliper needs to be shimmed in order to center it over the rotor when installed. The included shims go between the intermediate- and main-base bracket. The purpose of shimming is to reconcile variations in the spindle due to manufacturing tolerances and wear at the bearing seat of the inner bearing. The Baer installation instructions outline the exact procedure for shimming the calipers. Ideally, a dial caliper is the best tool to do the job, although the measurements can also be made with feeler gauges.Once the shimming has been completed, tighten intermediate-to-base bracket bolts to 85 ft.-lb. Then, reinstall the caliper to its mounting bracket with the supplied hardware and torque those bolts to 75 ft.-lb.Moving on to the brake lines, install the supplied brake-line fitting and lock onto the car as shown.At the caliper, install the supplied steel-braided hose with a supplied copper washer on each side of the banjo fitting, which is shown here installed onto the caliper. Finger-tighten the banjo bolt, connect the hose to the hardline, and install the hose lock, as shown in the previous step.Partially tighten the hose at the hardline, as is being done here.Position the hose between the caliper and hardline so there is no interference with the wheel and suspension components through the entire range of motion.Once you have confirmed the brake line will not be in contact with anything that could damage it (by grabbing the rotor and turning it lock-to-lock, or having an assistant turn the steering wheel from inside the car), securely tighten the line fitting on the end of the hose and the banjo bolt on the caliper.All done under the fenders, with the calipers, rotors, brake lines, and all other hardware installed. Pretty cool stuff, to be sure.Installing the Baer Remaster is next. This car had a dual master-cylinder fitted to it at one point in the past. It was originally equipped with a single-reservoir unit. Either way, removal of the master cylinder begins with loosening the two bolts that hold it to the firewall and disconnecting the brake lines from it, as shown. You will also need to disconnect the pushrod from the brake pedal inside the car from underneath the dashboard.We had to basically break and cut the pushrod away from the old master cylinder in order to reuse it in the Baer Remaster. A cutoff wheel made quick work of that, as shown here where we cut the end off of the pushrod that was a part of the old master.This is the pushrod as it came out of the old master cylinder.The pushrod fits into the Baer Remaster, as shown here.The Remaster fits both Ford and GM firewall or booster patterns, and, as such, fits directly into place on the firewall of our Fairlane. We reused the existing hardware that held the old master in place to secure the Baer unit to the firewall.Setting up the brake lines was next. Every car will be different in terms of making trips to the auto parts store and revisions to some underhood brake lines to make the Baer Remaster work. We had fairly good luck in this area, as we really only had to revise two pieces of line.As we said, some revision of our lines was required, such as cutting this old line nut off so a new one could be installed to allow it to fit into the new Baer master.A double flaring tool was used to re-flare the existing line in the car with the new line nut first put into place.This is the completed line setup in place, showing how they fit into the Baer Remaster.Installation is completed on the brakes and the shown master cylinder. Baer’s excellent instructions detail how to next bleed the system, season the rotors, and bed the pads through a careful procedure of driving the car and doing a series of graduated stops of varying degrees of braking intensity. This is more important for a handling sort of car, one that really goes around turns. But it’s still something you will want to do with a straight-line type of car like our Fairlane. This will ensure optimum performance is achieved with a freshly installed Baer brake system.